First Tamil class of the new semester last night and, naturally enough, after 5 weeks off it was as though everything I'd already learned had quietly erased itself. My mind was a perfect blank (good place to be - sans panic - for meditation, but not so good for class). In the end it all worked out.

I learned a few new linguistic oddities: there is no equivalent for "happy" pongal, instead one wishes "sweet" pongal. This reminds me of the fact that in Afrikaans there is no "happy birthday," instead one wishes "much luck on your birthday." I wonder when "happy" entered the English lexicon as a catch-all phrase for well-wishing?

When I last mused on linguistic turns of phrase, I mentioned that "sawubona" (hello) in Zulu, in fact literally means "I see you" and how I enjoyed the sense of community fostered in the language itself. My mother sent a wonderful reminder of the further complexities of greeting in Zulu which is worth quoting here:

Of course, as you know, the "sa" in sawubona is plural, implying not only the speaker her/himself but also his family including the ancestors - all of us see you. And it's ok to say sanibona (plural) even if you're speaking to one person because s/he brings with her/him the whole family. So the sense of community is embedded in the language.

Isn't that fascinating? Of course, at this point in my own studies my accent is so appalling that it is enough of a challenge just to get folks to decipher what I'm saying, never mind linguistic complexities! I keep saying "feet" and "material" instead of "lesson" - they are the same word, but different stresses/punctuation!